Testifying in activists' trials threatens our impartiality, says TVB newsman
But court rejects journalist's claim that testifying against protesters would threaten impartiality
Having to testifying in cases such as the trial of activists Koo Sze-yiu and Ma Wan-ki could affect journalists' impartiality, a newsman told a magistrate yesterday.
Ho Wing-hong, deputy news editor of TVB News, was asking Magistrate Joseph To Ho-shing to exempt him from giving evidence at the men's trial over desecrating the Hong Kong flag.
He told Eastern Court that testifying for the prosecution would change his role from that of an independent journalist reporting the incident to that of a participant.
Ho said he feared people he interviewed in future might question his independence.
But the magistrate declined the application, saying Ho was not being asked to disclosure any confidential information.
Ho was asked by the prosecution to confirm a tape he filmed of the incident for TVB News.
Koo, 66, and Ma, 19, of the League of Social Democrats, are accused of setting fire to the flag during a protest outside the central government liaison office in Western on April 1 last year. They deny the charge.